title: Pain management and the primary care encounter: opportunities for quality improvement.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this pilot study was to create a comprehensive pain management educational toolkit for the primary care physician that offers guidance on current standards of care and quality improvement techniques to help curb educational and quality gaps in managing patients with pain.
  
  
  METHODS
  Pain often goes undetected in the primary care encounter, and when acknowledged, is often undertreated.
  
  
  METHODS
  This pilot study utilized a pre-/postintervention design. Data were collected using a unique survey developed for this project. The intervention consisted of an online educational toolkit designed to improve the quality of care primary care physicians offer their patients with pain.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results demonstrated statistically significant improvements from pre- to postintervention for various measures including the following: (1) reported comfort in managing patients with cancer and fibromyalgia; (2) number of physicians who set functional goals for patients with pain; (3) screening for depression, substance abuse, and alcoholism; (4) documentation of efficacy of nonpharmacologic modalities; and (5) knowledge scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The improvements seen from pre- to postintervention suggest the online toolkit had a positive impact on physician knowledge, practice patterns, and behavior toward pain management.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Programs and Quality of Care Department, American College of Physicians, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: Meghan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gannon
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Qaseem
authors.forename: Vincenza
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Snow
authors.forename: Qianna
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Snooks
keywords: evidence-based best practices; pain management; practice-based research; primary care; quality improvement